GO BIG RED

Bombs Over Germany

10 years ago, Kelly Jones was rushing out the door of her home for work. Her arms loaded with tax statements, she missed a step about the stairs on her front porch and dropped, striking her at once the concrete. While her neighbours found her, she was barely conscious, with her mind caught between her own front steps and the ones of the house nearby.

Paralyzed, having a partially severed spinal cord, it took greater than six months of hospitalization and 2 yrs of intense therapy for Jones to resume her life. She was struggling to work and had no one to support her. “Thank goodness I had an excellent individual disability insurance policy,” says Jones, a professional financial planner and composer of Hit by an Iceberg: Handling Disability in Mid-Career. “Those payments allowed me to concentrate on my therapy also to live my life without worrying about where the cash was originating from for daily living expenses. That made an impact in my experience and my recovery.”

While many of us understand the significance of life insurance, the simple truth is that insurance against a collision or infection that prevents you from working is probably much more important. A normal 30-year-old features a four times higher possibility of becoming disabled than he does of dying before age 65. A complete one in six Canadians can be disabled for 3 months or even more ahead of the age of 50.

There are two main alternatives: long-term disability (LTD) and critical condition (CI) policies. Both pay you money in case of a sickness or disability, but they do it different ways. Disability insurance provides a monthly income if you’re unable to perform due to a serious harm or disease, while critical illness insurance pays out a tax-free lump sum payment following a analysis of 1 of many illnesses included in your policy. So what type is suitable for you?

Regular pay if you can’t work

If you work for a big firm, you likely already have some kind of long-term disability insurance. Typically, such an agenda will pay you a set part of your monthly income if you are struggling to work. Obligations stop if you begin working again, attain age 65, or die. Protection differs greatly from manager to a different, and if you’re self employed or you work for a smaller firm, you may have no coverage at all.

Such disability plans may possibly protect you for “any occupation” or “own occupation.” The latter is significantly better, because under this classification, total disability means the inability to work at your regular work. With “any occupation,” total disability means the ability to conduct the tasks of any work. Meaning that if you become disabled, however you may perform a less demanding task, you may not get the benefit. Typically programs offer “own occupation” insurance for your first two decades of the benefit period and move to “any occupation” after that.

To figure out whether you have enough insurance, contact your company’s time department—if there’s one—or your office manager. For those who have insurance, ask them to go you during your group benefits. If you discover that your firm program includes at least 60% of your pay in the case of an accident or disease that prevents you from functioning, you probably have sufficient protection. If you don’t have children and your mortgage is paid, you probably could easily get by on a policy that pays 40% to 50% or your income. “Basically, you need enough coverage to meet your living expenses—meaning mortgage payments, fees, hydro, food and transportation charges,” says Jason Harvey, a Winnipeg disability insurance lawyer.

When evaluating your plan, remember that lots of disability programs include a limit on benefits. As an example, your strategy may include 60% of your revenues, but only as much as $2,500 monthly. Which means if you’re gaining over $50,000 per year, you may not have sufficient coverage. If you made $130,000 annually, you would only get the $2,500 per month maximum, which amounts to only 23% of your pay.

If you earn a high income, you may want to consider an exclusive disability plan to supplement your group benefits. To provide you with an instant concept of the cost required, a personal “own occupation” disability coverage for a 40-yearold guy whitecollar non smoker that gives $3,000 a month until age 65 (90-time waiting time) would cost about $140 monthly. The exact same plan for “any occupation” would cost about $75 a month.

While determining your protection, remember that payments from private disability insurance are tax free, as the payment from most corporate plans is taxable.

A single payment if you get sick

A second choice is critical illness (CI)insurance. You can buy a critical illness policy through an independent insurance broker and it will shell out a lump-sum benefit if you are diagnosed with one of many diseases given in the plan. The benefit is tax free and receiving this benefit doesn’t affect the quantity of disability benefits you may also be receiving. Once you obtain, you can find no demands concerning how the money is used.

The idea of getting a lump sum payment of maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars to help purchase top-notch medical treatment if you are diagnosed with cancer or another critical illness sounds like an intelligent idea, but sadly critical illness insurance is expensive and the situations it covers are limited. Regular premiums for a $200,000 policy to get a 40-year-old non-smoker add up to $2000 a year to get a 10-year term. More difficult is the fact that the guidelines are not standardized and difficulties frequently occur when payouts have to be made. For instance, some plans will include only five diseases, while more detailed ones mask to 25. Such procedures also can have strict demands regarding survival intervals that have to be met following the disability is sustained before a commission is manufactured. If your condition doesn’t meet with the requirements particularly, the plan might not payout a dime.

For example, in case you have a $100,000 critical illness coverage, it might establish that no payment will be created in case you have a benign cancer. The exact same goes for some of the less severe cancers, for example point one or point two prostate cancers. “Read the fine print within the policy carefully,” says James Stallworth, a certified financial advisor in Ottawa. “The set of illnesses it handles is a lot faster than the exceptions. Therefore it can be quite a bit of a mug’s game.”

Which kind in the event you get?

If you don’t have long term disability insurance and you’re choosing between your two types of coverage, disability insurance may be the clear winner. That’s as it will kick-in to help you pay the charges in case of any condition or incident that prevents you from performing, while critical illness insurance only helps if you happen to experience among the particular illnesses included in your plan. Also, gathering critical illness insurance often requires more paperwork and delays.

Mike Morgan’s experience with critical illness insurance plainly shows the difference. A year ago at age 59, Morgan (not his real name) was diagnosed using a brain tumor. Before his diagnosis, he was an active skier, cyclist and entrepreneur. Six years earlier, while reviewing his advantages, Morris had obtained both private disability insurance coverage in addition to a critical illness policy.

While he was diagnosed using the tumor, his disability insurance started paying benefits right away, but as a result of severe problems, he was unable to record the critical illness insurance documents quickly. After having a couple of weeks, a close friend stepped into help him using the paperwork and eventually, his claim was recorded. But however, Morgan died before he may obtain a penny.

Nevertheless, there is one situation where critical condition is sensible, and that’s if you help assist your loved ones, however you can’t get disability insurance because you have no earned income. For example, a 35-year old spouse who stays house with three little children and doesn’t function can be a great choice to get a thorough critical illness policy (although even then, limited to a brief period of time, claim 10 years while the kids are young). “A family’s lifestyle would change drastically if the stay-athome partner was severely ill,” says Jake Long, a professional financial advisor in Toronto. “Paying visitors to replace the responsibilities she or he performs is expensive. The coverage might not be great however it might helpful in these cases.”

Entrepreneurs dreaming about powerful SEO Scottsdale services might take a lesson here. They could create a list in their own to be sure everything is perfect for their next website article. No, an SEO listing won’t protect you from crashing and burning. However it will help ensure that your post has the best chance to rank on Google.

Therefore, before you publish your next piece of web content, manage it through the next 9-level list to discover the best SEO tips.

1. Select a good keyword to concentrate on.
Step one will be to just find the key phrase or phrase you want the article showing up for. If I am writing about the top pet toys for small pets, I Will need to uncover what folks are actually looking for.

The easiest way to do this is use Google Keyword Planner, a free resource that can show you an estimate for almost any key phrase. (While Keyword Planner is free, you will need to setup an AdWords account to gain access.)

For example, I noticed that “small pet toys” receives 590 regular searches — more than every other related mixture of words. However, I’m still not fully prepared to begin writing about this topic. First, I must do some research.

2. Research your competition.
Now that I have a term I’d like to attempt to rank for, I am planning to go undercover and do some recon!

Jump to your “private checking” mode on your internet browser (“Incognito” in Chrome, “Individual” in Opera and Opera, “InPrivate” on Internet Explorer) and visit Google.com. (At my business, we do “private mode” since we don’t want Google to make use of our previous search background to affect what we see around the search results page.)

Have a look at all of the information on page one of Google, ignoring any ad results towards the top. The 10 () results are your competitors! What are they missing? Can you are doing better?

3. Create top content.
Now that you know what your competitors appears like, it is time to make the content that’s going to strike those persons out of the water. That is probably the most difficult aspect, but it’s the most important. It requires to be amazing.

I don’t care if you should be developing a blogpost, ecommerce store page or income-landing site. It needs to become better than the rest, if not neither Google nor your audience can ever take notice.

For a good example of articles I recently wrote — with only this objective in mind — checkout “Just How To Become a Millionaire: The Final Guide.”. My goal with that article was to create outstanding information about that matter. How did I do?

4. Set the keyword within your page title.
This would be a no brainer, but I Will say it anyway: Your page name must include your keyword, but that does not mean it’s to become exact (although it could be).

Furthermore, the name must be interesting enough that folks may actually wish to click on it! An example of this wouldbe Rehabilitation from PTMoney.com, who wrote a terrific post about “generating extra cash.” However, rather than a dull concept, like “Make Extra Cash,” he called it “52 Strategies To Make Extra Cash.” Now that is something I’d need to read.

5. Put the keyword within your header.
You can arrange many websites with a significant concept at the top, accompanied by several sub-headers through the entire page (such as the sub-headers on this page).

This business is useful not merely for people in skimming blogpost articles, it is valuable in showing Google exactly what your blog post is approximately. Therefore, be sure to use your specific keyword phrase at least one time in your sub-headers.

6. Set the keyword within the title and alt-tag of the image.
Next, if your site post includes pictures, you should use those images to cement the idea to Google about your article’s topic. There are two ways to try this:

The image name
The image alt tag
To improve the image name, only modify the name of the impression on your computer before uploading. Instead of a document named “2831274.jpg,” it is possible to re name it something such as “small dog toys 1.jpg.”

The “alt tag” is anything you specify once you distribute the picture to your site. Without getting too complex, the alt tag is simply the text the web browser will present when the photograph can not load for some reason.

7. Utilize the keyword inside the URL as well as in the article.
Another way Google can know what your website article is approximately is the URL. Put simply, we’re discussing what comes after the “.com” within your url (or.net,.org, or what you may use). Like, which of the following URLs you think Google will like better when determining whether or not showing a specific page?

former mightn’t completely destroy your SEO efforts, the latter certainly helps display Google just what the article is approximately.

8. Place internal links.
If you should benot discussing your best content, why should anyone else care? For this reason, it is necessary that your best SEO material be linked to internally by other pages in your website.

Yes, this implies you may need to go back and change some older articles to incorporate links for the new, amazing information.

External links are links from websites apart from your own. Google relies heavily on external links to ascertain how great a post is. And this makes sense, doesn’t it? You can speak about yourself as well as your own abilities all-day long, but nobody will think you. But as soon as other folks start bragging about you, others take notice.

Although creating amazing content gets you some links, the truth is, you are likely to need to do some “link building.” This implies calling other site owners in the place to ask for links. For many great tips about obtaining these links, I prefer to learn Backlinko.com.

The above nine-point checklist might not include everything someone could find out about SEO, but simply by third record, you will be miles in front of the competition and can probably see your posts get significant SEO traffic.

Building spec homes can be extremely profitable, not to mention very exciting! There is no experience like watching empty lots turn into a world class luxury properties developed by you personally.It’s an amazing process and very satisfying to know that your vision came to life and forever changed the landscape.

How To Start The Process

Now for the tough part. How in the hell do I get started? This crucial step can be a beast and get very complicated, especially if you do not have the industry experience and expertise that provide the skills you will need to get your project underway.Each project is unique and almost always presents new challenges and obstacles.The process always starts with purchasing a lot and hiring an architect to design your home.

Think Conservative And Use Mass Appeal In Your Design

Always have your buyer in mind when designing your custom spec home.You will maximize the potential number of buyers and increase your profits by following this rule.

If the area you are considering building your home reveals that most homes are selling for $800,000 for a 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom, 4,200 square foot residence with a 4 car garage on a 20,000 square foot lot, that is what you should stick to building. Why? For a several of reasons.

First, you’ve already determined this is a rock solid market. An comparative analysis has shown what most home buyers preferences are as far as property features and overall budget.The greater the number of potential buyers the more offers you’re likely to receive and the higher the final selling price!

Second, home buyer’s lenders must get an appraisal from there lender to guarantee the loan amount. Lenders feel more comfortable about a home that isn’t out of the ordinary. They are looking for conformity and features that have mass appeal and are highly functional.

Last And Definitely Not Least….THE LOT!!

The lot is the most crucial aspect of your overall property value and final sales price.The sold saying goes “location..location..location”.Finding the perfect lot at the right price can make or break your spec home project.

Bringing It All Together

Now for a quick overview and analysis. Lets say you oversee the project personally, eliminating the extra expense hiring a general contractor. You bring in subcontractors and divide up all phases of the home construction.By purchasing a lot below market value and eliminating the overhead and markup of hiring a builder directly you can then expect to make a very good profit once you home hits the market.Building spec homes is big business and big profits but you have to be willing to do your homework and have patience and persistence.

“DUCEMUS – We Lead.”

That was the war cry — with meaning — of the 22nd Bombardment Group, a hell-bent-for-leather organization of men who flew a tough, fast bomber called the Marauder. They flew from Australia and Seven-Mile Drome at Port Moresby to strike at Japanese targets from Portuguese Timor to Lae and Salamaua, at Rabaul and other hornets nests of Japanese fighters and antiaircraft. Flying in early 1942, and through the summer of that painful year, they were the first airmen to start hitting the enemy on a consistent basis in his most strongly defended centers. While the Allies all about them foundered in the choppy sea of defeat, the 22nd’s Marauders acted like a bombing group that never accepted the fact that we were losing a war. Sometimes their losses were frightful, and certainly they were as crippled within their organization through lack of parts, supplies, and manpower as any other organization. But they kept on hitting the enemy, again and again, until the Japanese came to marvel at the grim courage of these pilots and their crews.

And the 22nd did it all in a bomber that was considered so dangerous to fly that-while the 22nd pounded into Japanese targets — that same bomber was grounded in the United States as a killer! When Air Force headquarters finally got around to asking the men of the 22nd if they were having any serious difficulties with the Martin B-26 Marauder, they received their response in an enthusiastic chorus that amounted to “Hell, yes, we got problems. Send us more of the damned airplanes!”

“There were a lot of pilots who called the Marauder a bitch and a killer.” remarked General Samuel E. Anderson (who commanded the Marauders in Europe during World War 11). But you could never prove it with guys like Walt Krell or Jerry Crosson [pilots with the 22nd]. They were wild about the B-26; they loved that airplane. They could just about make the B-26 sit up and sing songs to them. There were pilots in the States who dreaded flying in the B-26 under normal conditions. Krell, Crosson and the other pilots in the 22nd Bomb Group could fly that thing better on one engine — which Stateside pilots often said was impossible — than most fliers could with both fans going.”

Gerald J. Crosson was one of the old B-26 pilots who had ferried the third production airplane from its Baltimore factory before the war (and later flew it in combat), and became one of the outstanding bomber pilots of the war.

The 22nd made its headquarters at Garbutt Field near Townesville, Australia, dispersing its squadrons to Antill Plains and Reid River in the surrounding countryside. But this was strictly the home base; to fly combat missions the men had to stage on from Australia to Seven-Mile at Port Moresby in New Guinea, refuel, and then go after the Japanese still farther to the north. On April 5, 1942, the 22nd launched its first combat strike. This was a mission against the heavily defended bastion of Rabaul on distant New Britain Island. It was the first combat mission for the B-26 in any theater of the war, and also the first medium bomber attack against Rabaul, which had been officially listed as a target to be reserved for long-range heavy bombers. Top command didn’t have enough B-17s, so they tore up their official listings of targets and planes and gave the assignment to the 22nd.

Seven-Mile as an advance base was a crude, rough, miserable forward outpost, which the Japanese found delightful as a place for target practice by day and by night all through the week. It was worse than bad for the men who flew from Seven-Mile, and it was hell for the men who patched and fixed and worked to keep the planes going. The white-hot summer sun scorched the grass into dirty brown straw, blistered the air, and produced a savage combination of huge mosquitoes and the choking dust of the air-strip, and at the same time the dank and oppressive humidity of the nearby jungle and the sea.

A good example of what the ground crews went through came one day with the sight, to crewmen returning from a raid, of two Buddha-like figures in the burned grass on one side of the airstrip. The figures were mechanics Charles Fuqua and Bill Spiker, sitting perfectly upright, legs crossed beneath their bodies, and sound asleep from exhaustion.

If luck were with the ground crews (and the Zeros and bombers were busy elsewhere for a respite) they could get five or six hours sleep; more often they averaged three hours sleep a night. The men used to say that you didn’t live at Seven-Mile; you existed. Bodies became caked with dirt, hair matted with grease, hands and faces packed with grime. Cuts and bruises along the body were common because the men used makeshift tools and often slipped and fell from their precarious working mounts. “I’ll never forget the men who worked on my plane and those of the squadron whenever we got to Moresby.” Crosson asserted.

Through all this the men of the 22nd not only kept on working and fighting, but through some incredible strength shared by them all, they kept throwing themselves at the Japanese. General Anderson, who spent several weeks in 1942 with the 22nd, refers to their spirit as “the incredible morale of the men of the 22nd Bomb Group. And this was despite something that didn’t reflect credit on the Army Air Forces, or on the whole general military organization. These boys felt as though they had been written off by the United States. They were convinced that hardly anybody knew anything about them. I hate to say this, but it was largely the truth as far as the public was concerned. And despite all this, their morale was simply marvelous.”